Independent groups, donors to monitor safety net funds

Independent groups, donors to monitor safety net funds

JAKARTA (JP): Following protests over a lack of transparency
and suspected corruption in the disbursement of the social safety
net fund, the government on Thursday said independent parties and
donors would be involved in monitoring the fund to ensure it
reached the needy.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty
Eradication Haryono Suyono said after a Cabinet meeting on the
safety net fund, led by President B.J. Habibie, that the
involvement of donors and independent parties was part of a
"quick system of correction". This system will respond to any
irregularities found in the distribution of the fund.

This was one of three points the Cabinet agreed on, Haryono
said, adding that the Cabinet also heard a presentation from the
government-appointed team in charge of monitoring the fund, the
Indonesian Committee for Humanity, led by former finance minister
Mar'ie Muhammad.

Haryono said the other points agreed on were the
simplification of the program and "focusing on targets in line
with the latest studies". Caution in distributing the fund
resulted in the disbursement of barely 30 percent of the Rp 17.8
trillion allocated for the 1998/1999 fiscal year.

Mar'ie acknowledged a few irregularities in the distribution
of the fund. He said that in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta; Semarang
and Bojonegoro, Central Java; and Kerawang, West Java, 23.2
percent of the distributed fund did not reach poor families.

He also confirmed that funds were slow to reach needy
elementary and high school students because of "administrative
problems".

The limited resources of state-run post office PT Pos
Indonesia also contributed to the fund's slow distribution.

"So we suggest that local branches of Bank Rakyat Indonesia
again be involved in distribution," he said.

The bank earlier ended its involvement in distributing the
fund because of high operating costs.

Mar'ie also urged better coordination among departments to
avoid the overlap of labor-intensive projects. He added that it
was not necessary to involve subdistrict heads or project
officers in project proposals.

Activists have alleged that officials have siphoned off funds
meant for the poor, often citing "administrative costs".

Haryono also acknowledged differing views among officials of
the social safety net program, adding that Habibie requested
ministers come to a common understanding among themselves,
planners, supervisors and facilitators.

Mar'ie explained that there was a common view of the basic
elements of the safety net program -- food security, health and
social security, including education, job creation and the
development of small businesses and cooperatives.

However, he said these concepts could be interpreted
differently in the allotment of the fund.

Before the Cabinet meeting, Haryono met with executives from
the World Bank and the National Development Planning Board, which
manages the funds.

The chairman of the board, Budiono, again denied any plans by
the World Bank to postpone the allotment of further funds.

Also on Thursday, in an open letter addressed to World Bank
president James Wolfenshon, representatives from the
International Nongovernmental Organization Forum on Indonesian
Development (INFID) urged the World Bank to "postpone the
disbursement of the social safety net fund until there is a
change of concept, design, target and methodology".

Signatories included Wardah Hafidz, coordinator of the Urban
Poor Consortium, which organized recent protests by poor
residents of Jakarta demanding transparency in the management and
disbursement of the fund.

A source said on Thursday that while officials denied the
World Bank had threatened to stop funding the country's social
safety net program due to ineffective distribution, there were
plans by the bank to postpone delivery of further funds "until
the requirements for independent monitoring, complaint mechanisms
and transparency of information" were met.

INFID urged the World Bank to avoid "repeating the mistake (of
not being critical of government policies) by failing to
criticize deficiencies" in the social safety net program.
(prb/anr)